This pilot examined the feasibility and acceptability of an empathy training program for county detention workers. A professional empathy coach collaborated with researchers to develop a curriculum tailored to correctional contexts, incorporating the CARGO framework (Connect, Accountability, Resistance, Gain, Outlook) and strategies for communication, de-escalation, and family connectedness. Results indicated significant perceived improvements in empathy knowledge, communication skills, and stress management, with 92% reporting strong intent to apply strategies at work and home. Narrative responses emphasized practical tools such as active listening and tone control. The program appeared feasible and valued, though limitations include reliance on self-report, a small volunteer sample, and absence of behavioral measures. Future research should use longitudinal designs and explore effects on behavior and institutional outcomes.
Individuals on community supervision in the U.S. face elevated risk of fatal opioid overdoses, positioning probation and parole officers (POs) as essential actors in harm-reduction efforts, including clients' possession of Naloxone. Yet prior research has found that clients fear that carrying Naloxone could lead to negative consequences. This qualitative study examines POs' (n = 109) actual and hypothetical responses to clients' possession of Naloxone and agency policies that guide these decisions. Findings indicate promise and gaps; many officers reported supportive attitudes of clients carrying Naloxone, though some hypothetical responses revealed the possibility of stigma or responses that could be perceived as punitive. Together, these results underscore the need for standardized policies and further research to reduce ambiguity and address barriers to Naloxone access for individuals on supervision.
Violence among adolescents is a pressing public health concern in Latin America, yet culturally adapted tools to guide rehabilitation in juvenile justice systems remain limited. This study reports the cultural adaptation and preliminary psychometric validation of the IFP-LAV, a psychosocial assessment instrument for juvenile offenders in supervised release. Using a multi-phase mixed-methods design, the final phase involved a cross-sectional study with 156 participants in the Supervised Assisted Release Modality (mean age 18.0 years, SD = 2.2; 89.7% male; 32.1% Afro-Colombian) across three Colombian municipalities. The factor structure was examined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and internal consistency via Cronbach's alpha. A 23-item, four-factor structure emerged - Family Relationships, Personality and Behaviors, Self-Regulation, and Support Network - with factor loadings ranging from 0.41 to 0.78 and Cronbach's alpha values from 0.71 to 0.88. The IFP-LAV provides preliminary evidence of structural validity and internal consistency as a culturally adapted instrument for assessing dynamic psychosocial factors in Spanish-speaking juvenile offenders and to inform context-sensitive psychosocial assessment in juvenile justice settings. Further studies using independent samples and longitudinal designs are needed to examine the instrument's predictive validity and broader applicability.
Despite availability of wellness resources, correctional officer engagement remains low due to stigma, confidentiality concerns, and mistrust of organizational supports. To address this gap, a deliberative stakeholder panel of (N = 10) correctional practitioners generated implementation-focused recommendations, revealing four key barriers: logistical access constraints, weak confidentiality safeguards, cultural stigma, and limited leadership support. Findings highlight the need to redesign access rather than expand services, emphasizing discreet entry points, privacy protections, and visible leadership endorsement. The study advances practical solutions-such as permission protocols, coverage strategies, and structured confidentiality-that agencies can deploy immediately. Improving officer wellness depends on transforming how existing resources are accessed, reframing utilization as a function of trust, culture, and organizational design rather than availability alone.
Effective training is critical for preparing correctional officers (COs) for the realities of prison work. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 128 COs employed in Canada's federal correctional system, this study examines perceptions of the Correctional Training Program (CTP), including its adequacy, limitations, and implications for job performance, safety, and well-being. Nearly half of participants reported that the CTP was of limited practical value, citing a lack of realism and insufficient alignment with day-to-day correctional duties. Communication skills and mental health training-both essential components of contemporary correctional work-were identified as key gaps. Participants recommended greater use of scenario-based learning, security-level-specific content, and program restructuring to better prepare officers for operational realities and evolving correctional priorities.
Although there is a long history of criminal justice system policy reform efforts by academics, policymakers, and stakeholders, these initiatives have largely excluded the opinions of those with lived experience in the justice system. Given movements to prioritize the voices and perspectives of those who have firsthand experiences in the system, it is critical to understand how those incarcerated view criminal justice policy reforms. We examined reform suggestions using letters submitted by those incarcerated in Florida to the American Prison Writing Archive (APWA). We hypothesize that letter writers used their sociological imagination to connect their experiences to larger reform movements. Deterrence, just desserts, and decriminalization are not represented in the data, while mentions of cruel and unusual punishment, rehabilitation, and decarceration are common. This study highlights the important knowledge that those with lived experiences possess and may provide useful information about policy reform in Florida.
This study explains why prison reforms stall, focusing on the Scandinavian Prison Project pilot in Chester, Pennsylvania. Drawing from 164 interviews with 94 correctional officers (2019-2025), the research identifies a change-resistant traditionalist subculture. When humanistic practices challenge customary corrections, four core tensions are triggered: operational, environmental, role-based, and personal. These breed a fatalistic "tigers don't change stripes" worldview, the cynical belief that incarcerated individuals are incapable of reform. This mindset reframes rehabilitative care as safety hazard, prioritizing custodial control. The paper theorizes resistance as interlocking gears of institutional crises and subcultural norms. It concludes with policy recommendations to dismantle cultural barriers, arguing that until custodial control ceases as a mechanism for professional survival, reform will remain a superficial imposition.
International research indicates that military veterans who encounter the criminal justice system have distinct needs and experiences. This article draws on 51 life history interviews detailing the personal journeys of Australian Defense Force (ADF) veterans incarcerated in Australia. Findings demonstrate that criminal behavior after leaving the military was often preceded by difficulties reintegrating into civilian society. Incarcerated veterans reported that they felt stereotyped and stigmatized in the legal system, had physical, mental, and social needs that were not met in prison, and that there was inadequate support upon leaving prison and returning to civilian life. A range of implications and practical recommendations stems from these findings.
Prison labor remains a defining feature of incarceration in the United States, with mandatory unpaid labor still legal in at least 16 states. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample (n = 582), this study examines public attitudes toward mandatory and optional prison labor, fair wages for incarcerated people, and financial obligations such as medical copays, phone calls, and hygiene supplies. Respondents broadly supported prison work and moderately supported mandatory labor. Although most endorsed compensation, recommended wages were substantially lower than those deemed fair for free-world workers. Older and higher-income respondents more often supported financial obligations, and Republicans disproportionately favored requiring payment for hygiene supplies. Support for rehabilitation predicted higher recommended wages. Findings underscore tensions between punitive policies and rehabilitation.
Correctional agencies face persistent staffing shortages and declining morale. This study analyzed over 600 Indeed.com employee reviews from officers across eight state Departments of Corrections to examine perceptions of the work environment using social exchange theory. Thematic analysis revealed recurring concerns about understaffing, mandatory overtime, low wages, and organizational neglect. Officers described emotional exhaustion, diminished trust in leadership, and a mismatch between job demands and institutional support. Perceived inequities in workplace exchanges contributed to burnout, disengagement, and turnover intentions. Findings provide practical implications for improving retention and organizational stability in correctional settings.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among incarcerated individuals, yet limited guidance exists to support the translation of suicide prevention strategies into correctional settings. Informed by implementation science frameworks (ADAPT-ITT and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research - CFIR), mental health administrators, and supervisors (n = 33) within one state's Department of Corrections (DOC) attended an Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training and completed an open-ended posttest survey regarding (1) the value and acceptability of the AMSR model to correctional settings, (2) challenges/barriers to adoption, and (3) practices that could be feasibly and quickly implemented. Two independent coders analyzed qualitative survey responses using content analysis methodology. Aspects of AMSR considered applicable in correctional settings included the risk assessment framework, person-centered language, and documentation. Challenges or barriers to implementation included system buy-in, time limitations, and the unique relationships between inmates and clinicians. Recommendations for immediate implementation included safety planning, language changes, and risk assessment documentation. This study uses a data-driven approach to tailoring suicide prevention clinical practices for correctional settings. Study limitations include a small sample size from only one state and one-time point of analysis. Despite these limits, this study provides guidance for correctional settings seeking to improve suicide care practices.
Therapeutic approaches in community corrections have become common practice toward an evidenced based approach. Core correctional practices have been transformed into manualized training programs to support probation officer use of these evidence based practices. This study sought to determine how probation officer use of a manualized training program, specifically Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS), impacted offender recidivism one-year post probation completion. Findings demonstrate that EPICS is most impactful with high risk offenders while individual EPICS skills such as behavior chains and cost benefit analysis had no impact on recidivism.
This article critically examines the complexities of studying Islam in Belgian prisons through ethnographic fieldwork, addressing issues of researcher integration, institutional constraints, gaining trust and the spatial dimensions of interviews. A particular focus is placed on the role of the researcher's gender and religious identity, as well as the fluidity of insider and outsider status in prison ethnography. The article underscores the necessity of reflexivity in navigating these methodological and ethical challenges. Additionally, it examines the broader implications of conducting ethnographic research in closed settings, emphasizing the importance of adapting research strategies to institutional and interpersonal constraints. By analyzing these dynamics, this study offers a deeper understanding of the methodological intricacies inherent to prison ethnography.
Prison escapes are a major public concern and enormous amounts of money are spent by correctional agencies to keep prisoners from escaping custody. Over the past thirty years the National Corrections Reporting Program recorded more than 45,000 escapes in 25 states. This data is used to describe the characteristics of people who escaped from prison, their legal histories, prior escape convictions, and the types of facilities they escaped from. Logistic regression models were used to identify the predictors of escape, and Cox regression was used to assess the factors that influenced the amount of time that passed before an escape occurred. Finally, the consequences of escape were analyzed by looking at the length of additional prison sentences imposed for the crime of escape. Policy implications and future research directions are discussed.
To manage the large and diverse population of individuals under community supervision, rehabilitative work-aligned practices are the current gold standard. Guided by empirical research, these evidence-based practices (EBPs) standardize supervision decisions and meet the dynamic needs of clients to reduce recidivism. There is a widely recognized need to address the challenges faced by street-level workers who integrate these EBP-related policy changes in their everyday routines. Contextualizing the attitudes of probation and parole officers towards EBPs is vital for understanding both barriers and facilitators towards change. Using self-reported survey data collected from 86 federal probation officers and supervisors, the current study examined how organizational commitment, burnout, and individual variables influenced PPO attitudes towards EBPs. Analyses found that organizational commitment predicted positive attitudes towards EBPs. These findings suggest the importance of cultivating higher commitment to improve the implementation of evidence-based practices.
The public has limited direct access to prisons and largely relies on media, programming, or higher education to understand prison work, which tend not to depict correctional officers positively. Engaging in semistructured interviews with recruits (n = 375) and federal correctional officers who have completed one year (n = 166) or two years (n = 74) of service for the Correctional Service of Canada, we explore longitudinally how participants interpret how they are perceived by the public and what the effects are of such perceptions. Participants challenged representations of their work as punitive, inflexible, authoritative, and unempathetic, with felt impacts intensifying with more years of occupational tenure. We discuss how these correctional officer voices complicate public perceptions of prison work and the sociology of punishment literature.
Forthcoming in Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research: This study explores the relationship between procedural justice, mental wellbeing, and confidence in carrying out organizational citizenship behavior among new prison officers recruited through the Unlocked Graduates Leadership Development Programme in England and Wales. We found a direct association between supervisory procedural justice and organizational citizenship, and an indirect association between organizational procedural justice and organizational citizenship, through mental wellbeing. These findings suggest that while prison officers directly reciprocate the fair treatment received by supervisors by engaging in discretionary actions benefiting the organization, fair treatment by the organization has more of an indirect effect via influencing officer wellbeing. Our results highlight the importance of both supervisors and organizations treating their staff with procedural justice; not only is fair treatment associated with greater mental wellbeing, but it encourages behaviors that extend beyond formal job requirements. Cultivating such behaviors among new prison officers may ultimately improve practices, cultures, and outcomes for people in custody within prisons.
While there is an established body of literature broadly showing that greenspace is associated with physical and mental health, research examining greenspace in prison populations is more limited. This study attempts to address this gap by surveying 75 adults in custody (AIC) about the perceived impacts of the Memorial Healing Garden (MHG) at the Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP). Findings reveal that the MHG was strongly associated with an overall enhanced sense of well-being. Specific settings within the MHG, such as water features and cultural artifacts, were rated as more beneficial to wellness than other outdoor and recreational spaces. These findings lend support to the idea that high-quality green spaces in prisons can help to address common stressors experienced by AIC.
